A NOTE ON THE USE OF RADIOSONDE DATA TO ESTIMATE THE DAYTIME FLUXES OF SENSIBLE AND LATENT-HEAT - A COMPARISON WITH SURFACE FLUX MEASUREMENTS FROM THE FIFE

In this study, comparisons are made between the daytime 12 h averages of sensible and latent energy flux densities measured from a network of surface stations during the First International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE), and estimates made with a procedure employing radiosonde measurements of the time-change of the height of the planetary boundary layer interpreted by a surface layer-mixed layer model. Results show that average daytime surface sensible and latent energy flux densities can be estimated using this procedure with a standard error of between 20 and 40 W m-2.